Community holds rally after Academy Charter School proposes 3 schools in Central Islip and Brentwood

Academy Charter School has proposed to open three schools in Central Islip and Brentwood which, if approved, would significantly expand its reach on Long Island as an alternative to traditional public schools.

The charter school network, which is tuition-free for families, has applied to open an elementary school and a middle school in Brentwood next September, according to the State University of New York Charter Schools Institute. Their combined enrollment is anticipated to begin with 300 in the first year and rise to 1,000 in its fifth.

In Central Islip, the Academy has proposed to start a high school. With an anticipated enrollment of 125 in the first year, the student body is expected to grow to 600 in its fifth. The proposed start date is September 2027.

Academy officials have noted their students' high academic achievement and cited long waitlists for their schools as evidence of community demand for what they offer.

But at a rally Tuesday ahead of a public hearing on the two proposed schools in Brentwood, a crowd of around 200 turned out to protest Academy's plans.

Brentwood Teachers Association president Kevin Coyne said union members from roughly a dozen Long Island districts came, many wearing red shirts. Some community members were also present.

Sheree Sibilly, a mother of two Brentwood middle school students and president of the district’s special education PTA, said she’s concerned about the district losing money to charter schools and what that could mean for the district’s educational programs, especially those for special education.

“We're just getting really great programs,” she said. “We can’t afford to [lose funds].”

Under state law, charter schools are run by independent boards, with tuition reimbursements from school districts based on the number of students drawn from those districts, Newsday previously reported.

At the rally and hearing, which was held at the Brentwood school system’s central administration building, speakers criticized what they called a lack of transparency and accountability in charter schools.

Most of the 20 speakers voiced their opposition to the charter school proposal. One parent expressed her support. A few others were ambivalent, raising the issue of overcrowding and urging the district to improve.

“If you Google how the Brentwood school district is performing, they're not performing at their best,” said Barbara Raymond, a mother of two sons who graduated from Brentwood. “If you want the parents to stand behind you and support you and not take funding away from you, do better. Do better by our kids.”

No one from Academy spoke at the hearing, which was attended by about 100 people. Academy representatives did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Assemb. Phil Ramos (D-Brentwood), who graduated from Brentwood High School, called for Academy’s applications to be rejected.

“You don't even have a right to vote for their board members,” Ramos said. “You can't vote for the budget. There's nothing more representative of taxation without representation than charter schools.”

Vincent Leone, Brentwood’s director of programs and policy, said in a presentation during the hearing that Academy’s proposal replicates many of the district’s existing services, citing its extended school day from 7 a.m. through 5:30 p.m. among the examples.

“We do everything that's proposed in that charter [application] with absolute excellence,” he said. “We do not need duplication. We need investment.” 

'Comprehensive' review

Brentwood is the largest public school system on Long Island with 18,000 students. Central Islip is also a large district, with an enrollment of 7,800. A public hearing was held Monday night for the Central Islip proposal. 

The State University of New York is one of two agencies that can authorize new charter schools in the state. The Charter Schools Institute reviews applications and makes a recommendation to SUNY.

The institute will accept public comment through Sept. 15 and that feedback will be considered before the institute makes a recommendation to SUNY by late September, Michael Lesczinski, the institute’s communications director, said in an email Tuesday.

The SUNY trustees are expected to vote on whether to grant the new charters at an October meeting, Lesczinski said. The date of that fall meeting is yet to be set.

Lesczinski said the institute’s review is “comprehensive, holistic and rigorous.” Since its inception, just 38% of applications were approved for a new charter, he wrote.

The Academy network opened its first school — an elementary school in Hempstead — in 2009. It has since expanded to run a K-12 system in both Hempstead and Uniondale. It also offers education for grades K-7 in Wyandanch.

In all, the network serves more than 4,000 students on Long Island, according to its applications.  

Parents who enrolled students in the Uniondale and Hempstead branches of the Academy network have said they were attracted by the organization's emphasis on academics and an extended school day that runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Newsday previously reported.

The network also boasts a graduation rate of 96%, higher than their areas' traditional school systems, according to its applications. The academy schools also had higher proficiency rates in English and math in 2023-24 assessments of students in grades 3-8.

The academy said in its applications that its schools in Hempstead, Uniondale and Wyandanch have hundreds of students waitlisted for 2025-26.

Critics, however, have said charter schools like the Academy network threaten the financial stability of the school systems they draw students from and risk hurting their educational programs.

Earlier this year, Hempstead school officials had said they faced a $34 million deficit and avoided closing an elementary school after a last-minute infusion of state aid. School leaders had blamed their budget shortfall on the rising tuition it has to pay to charter schools, including the Academy, each year.

But charter school leaders have said Hempstead's fiscal issues can be attributed to "broader factors" beyond charter school tuition.  

Newsday's John Hildebrand contributed to this story.

By Dandan Zou

dandan.zou@newsday.com@DandanZou

Dandan Zou covers education for Newsday. Previously, she worked for a community newspaper in Maryland and a personal finance magazine in Washington, D.C.